Heavenly Shades Of Night Are Falling
by JetNoir
Summary: Aeris Gainsbourough may no longer be alive, but she is not quite gone from the world and from her viewpoint she finds that her old life is not yet over.


**Note:** The title for this story comes from a song, alas I don't know who wrote or indeed sung it, but I just wanted to acknowledge it. I would also like to thank doctor katy for beta-reading this chapter.

**HEAVENLY SHADES OF NIGHT ARE FALLING**

**a Final Fantasy VII fanfic by JetNoir**

She gasped as the blade entered her stomach, as silent as a whisper. Her body spasmed in response, and when it was cut out, she fell to her knees.

The world had gone silent. She couldn't hear anything. Cloud screaming - or at least she presumed he was screaming; his mouth wide open, eyes weeping, hair shaking violently. She smiled, gently, sadly, the ground rushing up very quickly. Before she hit, her eyes closed, and then nothingness.

Cold.

So cold. Water rushing upwards, a flood, consuming her body. Not painful, not suffocating. In her semi-conscious memory, it was a little claustrophobic, and cold.

Light illuminated her still, non-breathing body, the White Materia glowing pure.

Cold.

She was drowning in eternity.

--

So, naturally, it came as a shock when Aeris Gainsbourough woke up.

The City of the Ancients loomed around her, it's alien shell-like buildings unfamiliar, and yet comforting.

Words bubbled from deep inside her, getting stuck in her throat, before gurgling out.

"But I'm dead," she croaked, "surely this cannot be."

She looked around at her surroundings. There were memories of this place, but she just couldn't quite grasp them…

Blonde hair, spiked, rose in her mind's eye.

"Cloud."

Then blackness.

--

Aeris awoke to light, and pain, and sorrow. It was all here. The future. The eternity that oppressed her lay bare. The destruction and creation of life, the never-ending cycle.

"I must leave here,"

Although she was unsure of why, she looked to the heavens and decided to rise. Floating upwards, cushioned by air, the earth, the real one, now below her.

Reality and fantasy fused, in her eye, like a jigsaw; and it was exactly what she wanted. The life-stream. Flowing through the Planet, she could see the pain of it. Yet, not as bad as it had been. With the destruction of Shinra, it seemed that even the worst damage could be taken back. There was still hope.

But the light that Aeris sought was swiftly vanishing. She flew through the centuries, being dragged to the distant future.

A future, alternately called Hell.

Bodies lay on the floor, blood and bone leaking to the black ground.

Black ground. Dead ground.

A group of men, dressed in uniform, roaring and screaming, firing something that could be a weapon, but was so alien, Aeris didn't recognise it.

The Last War.

The world was about to end, and this was it's Armageddon. A candle about to be extinguished with nothing but hate. Across the dead and dying Planet, battles raged, and the war could have raged for centuries more. Aeris couldn't tell how it had started, she had gone beyond that point in time. She just knew that nothing could stop it.

Aeris Gainsborough began to cry, tears streaming down her face at the misery before her.

Had humanity learned nothing? Forgotten centuries of simple wisdom? Apparently so, and it was nothing but sickening.

Human-kind could be architects of greatest beauty, and terrible cruelty, often simultaneously.

Her eyes open, green radiating out, as she sees the City of the Ancients, in it's beauty and complexity. The vision had ended.

But even in the darkest times, there is light. And there is hope. For without hope, there is no mercy.

Perhaps she was their hope. Surely she must have been brought back here for a reason. Surely this vision had been shown to her for the same reason.

"Aeris," the voice was soft, and comforting, and _familiar._

"Mother?" Aeris whispered, swirling around to see a figure bathed in light. Ilfana.

"Hello Aeris," Ilfana smiled, "it seems that you have finally joined me. But too soon."

"Was it you?"

"Was it me, what?"

"The vision," said Aeris, "did you give it to me?"

"Not just me," replied Ilfana, "all of us."

"But what do you want me to do?"

"Is it not obvious?"

"The Last War?"

"Of course."

"You want me to stop it."

"Yes. But Aeris, my dear, it is not as simple as that. You should be welcomed to The Promised Land; and you will be. A choice has been made, and we need your help. Humanity cannot be allowed to destroy itself. I'm sure you understand that."

"Yes, I understand. I will help you; surely you don't need to ask me."

"But you've been through so much, my daughter, and this…Aeris, you will have to work with every ounce of being, for every moment, of every day…until the end of time. Aeris, you mustn't do this. I can't let you do this. You will never see The Promised Land."

"Now that's a weak argument, albeit one motivated by love. You know that I have to do it."

"Yes, I know. And yes it was weak. But…but I am still you're Mother. We'll do whatever we can to help you."

Aeris smiled, although her eyes were sad.

"I know, Mother."

Ilfana looked around, as if she could see something that Aeris couldn't: "I have to go."

"I know that as well."

"So how are we meant to say goodbye?"

"We're aren't going to," said Aeris, "because I will see you soon. Won't I?"

"Yes," Ilfana smiled, as she slowly faded away.

--

When she was again alone in the City of the Ancients, and the heavenly shades of night began to fall, she smiled up at the sky, and set about her task.

**fini**

**Disclaimer: **All the characters are copyright to Square Enix; and the story to me. This story has been written on the understanding that you may read it and print it out; but you may not pass it off as your own, hire it out, or sell it for money. You also may not put it on your own or any other web page without my express written permission. Thankyou!

**JetNoir**


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